Title:

This Broken World

Author:

Charles E. Gannon

Category:

Science Fiction / Fantasy

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

May 10, 2023

hew. This Broken World checks in at a hefty 804 paperback pages. Yet it is only "the first book in the Vortex of Worlds" series? I certainly hope that the series is only a trilogy, because I cannot slog through too many successive volumes of this magnitude, even if I really like the story. Tolkien's epic masterpiece, LotR, finished in three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring = 527 pages, The Two Towers = 447 pages, and The Return of the King = 385 pages (not counting appendices). If an author needs more than 2500 pages to tell a tale, then the author needs an editor.

Despite its immense length, there is a lot to like in This Broken World. The book tells the story of Druadaen. He grows up in the Dunarra empire, displaying an unusually precocious understanding of the affairs of the adults around him. But Druadaen's family home is attacked by animals that are apparently driven mad by a "mancer" (magic user), and Druadaen barely escapes. When he comes out of a feverish coma, he learns he is an orphan (his dad is alive, but in some kind of state of suspended animation). Druadaen studies, hoping to join one of the Creedlands, but all of the gods reject him.Is there something about Druadaen that disqualifies him from acceptance into the church of one of the gods? Druadaen gets no answers to this question, and neither does the reader.

Druadaen grows up, spending a few years as a courier for the empire, but the events of this part of his life are glossed over. Years later, Druadaen is working in the service of his high-power aunt Shaananca. The periphery of the empire is periodically threatened by hordes of humanoids called the Bent. Where do these warriors come from, how can they assemble such numbers of fighters when their lands are resource poor, and every previous invasion has left the Bent with greatly diminished numbers? Druadaen undertakes a perilous mission into open territory to assess the Bent threat.

Gannon does a nice job of world building. Indeed, this story plays out over several continents, so it is a vast landscape. Gannon does his best to populate it with various cultures and history.

I like the unique idea at the heart of this story. Rather than the traditional fantasy-novel quest to find a magical item to defeat the dark villain(s), Druadaen is instead focused on answering questions that make no logical sense - how is it that a giant can walk when biology dictates that their heart would be unable to pump enough blood for a person that is the size of a 16' human? How is it possible for a dragon that weighs two tons to take flight, no matter how large its leathery wings may be? It is a bit puzzling that Druadaen is so focused on these questions, after all, he lives in a world where powerful "mancers" can cast spells, and the gods of the Creedlands can perform supernatural deeds. Druadaen himself has a mechanical/magical semi-sentient creature called a velene, plus he acquires a shape-shifting sword which seems to have at least a rudimentary intelligence of its own - if Druadaen can accept that magical creatures and devices can exist, why does the horde of the Bent puzzle him so? Isn't it just another example of magic?

Despite all of Druadaen's travels and adventures, when This Broken World is complete, there is much that remains a mystery. If there is an adversary, it is completely unidentified. There are some hints from his wizardly aunt Shaananca, but the reader is still in the dark about what is the central plot of this story. The events at the beginning - the attack on Druadaen family, and the mysterious Lady of the Mirror have been forgotten in all of the ensuing events. This is the first volume in the Vortex of Worlds, and so far there isn't even an inkling of a Vortex nor multiple Worlds, which makes me nervous that Gannon is planning to write more than three of these doorstoppers.

Although I liked This Broken World, there are some story points that prevented me from awarding it five stars.

Druadaen travels with a team of four or five companions (composition of team members varies during the course of the novel), yet despite the small number of characters, I could not tell S'ythreni and Umkhira apart. Druadaen's other fellow adventurers (Ahearn and Elweyr) are unique enough, and developed enough, to remember, but S'ythreni and Umkhira might as well have been a single character.

I felt that Druadaen magical aunt Shaananca was simply too powerful and too all knowing to be a credible character.

If the dragon can take human form, why doesn't it take some of that wealth from his lair and buy himself a herd of tasty cattle to feast upon?

Once in a while, one of the characters will use a phrase such as "Physician, heal thyself" or "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" - I found these statements from Earth's 20th century culture to be jarringly out of place when read in Gannon's fantasy world. Why would these characters talk like Earthlings?

I hope there is a good explanation for the vivid "dreams" the Druadaen sometimes has. They allow him to spy upon friends or foe just when they are discussing crucial information, which is awfully convenient!

If I see book 2, I will probably pick it up. Hopefully it is not another 800 pages long.